Pile fabrics



May 31, 1955 F. P. GROAT 2,709,461

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United States Patent PILE FABRICS Francis P. Groat, Bloomsburg, Pa., assignor to The Magee Carpet Company, Bloomsburg, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application June 16, 1949, Serial No. 99,565, now Patent No. 2,573,841, dated November 6, 1951. Divided and this application September 5, 1951, Serial No. 245,152

4 Claims. (Cl. 139-403) This invention relates to pile fabrics and is a division of my prior application Serial Number 99,565 filed June 16, 1949, now Patent No. 2,573,841, granted November 6, 1951.

It is an object of the invention to provide a pile fabric floor covering having pile warps raised from the backing to formweftwise rows of loops, the loops of alternate rows being graduated in height with high and low loops at spaced intervals throughout the length of the rows and intervening loops of varying heights, the intermediate rows of loops being of a uniform height but of less height than the high loops in the alternate rows.

A further object of the invention resides in providing a floor covering with a loop pile face comprising alternate rows of loops having spaced high and low loops with intervening loops of graduated height and intermediate rows of loops of a uniform height which gives a contrasting appearance to the texture of the pile surface which is attractive and pleasing to the eye.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following specification.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

Fig. l is an exploded perspective view showing the method of weaving the fabric, and

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the woven fabric.

Referring to the drawing, the fabric is woven on a conventional wire loom employing special shaped wires 5 and 6 having their upper edges of irregular shape to provide high and low loop forming portions 7 and 8 connected by inclined loop forming portions 9. The length of the high and low loop forming portions may be uniform or vary depending on the design of the fabric to be made. Also the high and low loop forming portions of wire 5 may be arranged at varying intervals in relation to the high and low loop forming portions of wire 6, so that some or all of the high portions of one wire are opposite the low portions of the other wire when inserted in the fabric being Woven. Inserted between the wires 5 and 6 is a knob wire 10 having a shank with a straight loop forming edge 11 of uniform height corresponding to the height of the low loop portions 8 of wires 5 and 6 or of less height than the high portions 7. At one end of the shank is a raised knob 12 of a height corresponding to that of the high portions 7 of the wires 5 and 6. The front or leading edge of the knob 12 is unsharpened and is shaped to allow the loops formed on wire 10 to easily ride up and over the knob when the wire is withdrawn.

In Fig. 1 l have shown a loop pile fabric being woven in accordance with my invention. The backing of thefabric may be of any suitable construction but in the fabric illustrated there are stuffer warps 13 and two series of weft threads 14 and 15, lying, respectively, above and below the stutfer warps and bound in place by crossed binding warps 16 and 17. The single frame of pile warps 18 extend along the fabric in the body thereof between the stuffer warps and upper series of weft threads. When 'ice the pile warps 18 are raised a wire is inserted in the shed and then the yarns are looped over the wire by lowering the pile warps to pass under the next upper weft thread. The pile warps raised over wires 5 and 6 will form rows of loops having low and high loops 19 and 20, with someor all of the low loops on wire 5 being opposite the high loops of wire 6. The pile warps raised over wires 10 form rows of low loops 21 of less height than the high loops of wires 5 and 6. When a predetermined number of wires according to the design have been woven into the fabric, the wires are successively withdrawn and reinserted in the shed formed immediately following the last wire in a series. Upon withdrawal of wire 10 the loops formed thereon will be raised by the knob on the end thereof and upon withdrawal of wires 5 and 6 the low loops form-ed thereon will be raised by the inclined portions between thelow and high portions. Thus, it is seen the withdrawal of all the wires results in the low loops formed thereon being raised to form high loops. However, when the wires are arranged with a knob wire 10 intermediate the shaped wires 5 and 6 and the wires are successively withdrawn it will be seen the row of high loops formed by withdrawal of wire 5 will be reduced to low loops when wire 10 is withdrawn owing to the fact that when the loops on wire 10 are raised by the knob the pile warps are pulled thus reducing the height of the loops formed in the preceding row. Likewise, when wire 6 is withdrawn the raising of the low loops formed thereon will pull the pile warps of the low loops thus reducing only the high loops in the preceding row of loops which are formed from the same pile warps. As the withdrawal of the wires continues in the sequence disclosed the fabric produced will have weftwise rows of loops of unequal or varying heights with intermediate rows of loops of substantially the same height. While theoretically the intermediate rows of low loops should be the same height, in practice it is found that due to the difference of the tension on the pile warps when pulled some of the loops will be reduced to a slightly lesser extent than others so there is a slight unevenness in the height of the loops.

In Fig. 2 the woven fabric is shown and it will be seen the pile face has alternate weftwise rows of loops having high and low loops 26 and 19 arranged in alternate spaced apart relation throughout the length of each row with intervening loops 2?. graduating in height upwardly from the low loops to the high loops. The high loops of each alternate row may be at varying positions throughout the length of the row in relation to the positions of the high loops in the next adjacent row, so that some or all of the high loops in a row are opposite low loops in the next adjacent row. The intermediate rows of loops 23 are of uniform height being of less height than the high loops in alternate rows. The rows of loops of uniformheight between the rows of loops of varying heights produces a pile face texture having superior wearing qualities and which is attractive in appearance. The fabric can be produced at considerable less expense than other high and low loop fabrics.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A pile fabric floor covering which comprises the combination of stufifer warps, weft shots lying above and below the stutter warps, binder warps binding the weft shots in place, and pile warps lying beneath the upper weft shots having portions raised upwardly between adjacent upper weft shots to form alternate weftwise rows of high and low loops in spaced apart relation and intervening loops graduating in height in opposite directions from the low loops to the high loops and other portions of the pile warps being raised between adjacent upper weft shots to form intermediate weftwise rows of loops of substantially uniform height and of less height than the high loops of said alternate rows.

2. A pile fabric floor covering comprising a woven backing having a series of upper Weft shots and pile warps lying beneath the upper weft shots having portions raised upwardly between adjacent weft shots to form alternate weftwise rows of high and low loops with a group of low loops between groups of high loops and intervening loops graduating in height in opposite directions from the low loops to the high loops, and intermediate weftwise rows of loops of substantially uniform height but of less height than the high loops in alternate rows.

3. A pile fabric floor covering comprising a woven backing having a series of upper weft shots and pile warps lying beneath the upper weft shots having portions raised upwardly between adjacent weft shots to form a1- ternate weftwise rows of loops of varying height with the low loops graduating in height in opposite directions upwardly towards the high loops and intermediate rows of loops of substantially uniform height but of less height than the high loops of alternate rows.

4. A pile fabric floor covering comprising a woven backing having a series of upper Weft shots and pile warps v lying beneath the upper weft shots having portions raised upwardly between adjacent weft shots to form alternate weftwise rows of loops of varying height and intermediate rows ofloops of substantially uniform height but of less height than the high loops of alternate rows, the loops in alternate rows being arranged in groups of high and low loops in spaced apart relation with loops graduating ing height upwardly from each group of low loops on opposite sides thereof towards the groups of high loops.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,110,8 67 Castles Mar. 15, 1938 2,164,090 Shuttleworth June 27, 1939 2,318,499 .Kee-n May 4, 1943 2,430,559 Dacey Nov. 11, 1947 2,576,791 Jackson Nov. 27, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 269,285 Germany Jan. 16, 1914 451,065 France Feb. 1, 1913 

